African Americans Today Chapter 8 African Americans Today

Education African Americans place special importance on acquiring education Racial and ethnic groups realize that formal schooling is key to social mobility Documented inadequacy of quality and quantity of education © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Education Educational gap between Blacks and Whites Always been present Gap is narrowing in recent years Many students would not drop out of school were it not for inadequacies noted: Insensitive teachers © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Education Poor counseling Unresponsive administrators Overcrowded classes Irrelevant curricula Dilapidated school facilities Several can be addressed with more funding Some are stalemated by disagreements © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

School Segregation De jure patterns of segregation According to policy or law children were assigned to schools on the basis of race U.S Supreme Court decision in 1954 - Brown v. Board of Education Topeka, Kansas. De facto Segregation Results from residential patterns © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

School Segregation Apartheid Schools Tracking Refers to schools that are all Black 1 of 6 of the nation’s Black students are in attendance Tracking Placing students in specific curriculum groups on the basis of test scores and other criteria © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

School Segregation African American children disproportionately assigned to General classes and more White children placed in college preparatory classes Integration is not one of the successes of public education © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Acting White, Acting Black, or Neither Shifts responsibility of low school attainment from school to the individual Overemphasizes personal responsibility, not structural features – Quality of schools, curriculum, and teachers © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Higher Education An increase in African American students going to college and graduating Upward trend to higher education has declined and in part is a function of: Decline in educational financial aid © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Higher Education Push for higher standards Employment opportunities Negative publicity and a decline in enforcement of affirmative action Racial incidents on college campuses © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

The Economic Picture Income and Wealth Income Two measures of overall economic situation of an individual or household Income Refers to salaries, wages, and other money received © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

The Economic Picture Wealth In 2009 Encompass all of a person’s material assets, including land & other types of property In 2009 Median income of Black families was $32,584 Compared with $54,461 for White non-Hispanic households © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

The Economic Picture Wealth demonstrates greater disparity Black income today resembles that of Whites more than 10 years ago 25.8% of Black people lived below poverty level & 9.4% of non-Hispanic Whites Wealth demonstrates greater disparity Generations of social inequity left Blacks unable to accumulate the wealth of Whites © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Employment Factors explaining official unemployment rate of young African American males Many live in depressed economy of central cities Immigrants and illegal aliens present increased competition © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Employment Official unemployment rate White middle-class women entered the labor force Illegal activities youth find they can make more money have become more prevalent Official unemployment rate Unemployed people are only people actively seeking employment © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Employment Underemployment Leaves out millions of Americans, Black & White Underemployment Refers to working at a job for which one is overqualified, involuntarily working part-time, Or being employed only intermittently © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Family Life Challenges to Family Stability Female-headed household Economic status of African-American male has been deteriorating Extended family & augmented members as a means of emotional, social & physical support © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Family Life Sociologists attribute rapid expansion of single-parent households to shifts in the Economy that keep Black men, especially in urban areas, out of work Phenomenon not limited to African Americans © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Strengths of African American Families Robert Hill (1999) 1. Strong kinship bonds 2. Strong work orientation 3. Adaptability of family roles 4. Strong achievement orientation 5. A strong religious orientation © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Strengths of African American Families Most consistently documented strength Presence of an extended family household Most common feature Having grandparents residing in the home Extended living arrangements more common among Black households than White ones © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

The African American Middle Class Migration of middle-class African Americans from ghetto in 1970s & 1980s No longer present as role models African American middle-class do not Automatically accept all aspects of White middle-class © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

The African American Middle Class W.E.B. DuBois (1952) When racism decreases, class issues become more important Class Sociologist Max Weber Sociologist William J. Wilson The Declining Significance of Race (1980) © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Housing Plays a major role in determining quality of a person’s life For African Americans, housing has been restricted through discrimination President Kennedy Executive Order 1968 Federal Fair Housing Law and U.S. Supreme Court decision of Jones v. Mayer © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Residential Segregation Factors that create residential segregation in the United States Private prejudice and discrimination Prejudicial policies of real estate companies Ineffective enforcement of anti-bias legislation Public housing policies and past construction patterns reinforce housing for the poor © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Residential Segregation Banks & other lenders create barriers based on race to financing home purchasing Redlining Discrimination against people trying to: Buy homes in minority/racially changing neighborhoods © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Residential Segregation Zoning Laws Enacted to ensure specific standards of housing construction Can also separate industrial and commercial enterprises from residential areas Some appear to curb development of low and moderate-income housing © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Criminal Justice Blacks constitute (2010): 4.7% of the lawyers 14.1% of police 14.9% of detectives 28.6% of security guards 39% of jail inmates © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Criminal Justice FBI’s Uniform Crime Report Conflict Theory Black’s account for 28% of arrests Even though they represent only about 12% of the nation’s population Conflict Theory UCR focuses on index crimes most often committed by low-income people © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Criminal Justice Victimization Surveys Differential Justice Annual systematic interviews of ordinary people to reveal how much crime occurs Show that African-Americans are 35% more likely to be victims of violent crime than Whites Differential Justice Whites dealt with more leniently than Blacks © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Criminal Justice Whether at the time of Investigation, arrest, indictment, conviction, sentencing, incarceration, or parole Application of differential justice to the harshest judgment that can be made: In the legal system The Death Penalty © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Health Care Black men are much more likely to fall victim to: Unrelenting stress Heart disease Cancer Death from hypertension twice as high as Whites © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Health Care Blacks’ high mortality rates from heart disease, kidney disease, and strokes Conflict Perspective Howard Waitzkin (1986) Racial tensions contribute to the medical problems of African Americans © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Health Care Blacks represent 6% of practicing physicians Stress from racial prejudice and discrimination help to explain high rates of hypertension Blacks represent 6% of practicing physicians Issues of environmental justice © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Politics Barack Obama entered the White House as president in 2009 Only 42 African American congressional representatives Locally elected Black officials have difficulty jumping to statewide office © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Politics African Americans have not received an equal share of the political pie Non-Black voters are concerned that view of Whites and non-Blacks: Will not be represented by an African American © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Politics Gerrymandering Dated from 1810 The bizarre outlining of districts to create politically advantageous outcomes © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.